Tim Marshall

Diplomatic Editor

There is indiscriminate shelling of civilian areas. The hospital has been hit by rocket fire. Militia open fire on families fleeing for safety.

Perhaps the West should intervene?

The problem is, the shelling is in Bani Walid, Bani Walid is in Libya, and the West has been there and done that.

The cries of anguish over the agony of Syria are almost drowned out by the deafening silence from both the West and the Arab world about the chaos in Libya and specifically about the fate of anyone unlucky enough to live in a place deemed to have been supportive of Colonel Gaddafi.

Whole towns have been cleared of their inhabitants, especially areas dominated by black Libyans who have been the subject of what is effectively ethnic cleansing.

Emblematic of the problem is Bani Walid where residents say there is a shortage of food and water caused by the militia surrounding the town and pouring fire into it.

The town is 100 miles south of the capital, Tripoli, and was one of the last places to surrender to the rebels who overthrew Gaddafi last year.

Image Caption:These black prisoners were put in a cage, force-fed flags and abused

Now it is one of many in Libya where the rule of law comes from which ever militia controls the area, and central government has limited or no power.

The latest flare up began after a militiaman, who had found Gaddafi hiding in a drain last year, died whilst in custody of the Bani Walid militia which has no allegiance to central government whatsoever.

Tripoli ordered those responsible to be handed over.

Given that there is no effective national army or police force, various militias descended on the town including fighters from Misrata, a coastal town which has a long history of rivalry with Bani Walid.

In the ensuing fighting at least 22 attackers have been killed and 200 wounded according to the Libyan state news agency.

Bani Walid is just the latest incident ensuring that a divided Libya cannot yet be put back together.

Gaddafi's murder last year set the scene for what has been a brutal post-revolutionary period.

Long withheld tensions burst into the open in an orgy of revenge killings and racism.

Black Libyans, and black Africans still stranded in the country, have borne the brunt of this due to their lack of arms and support networks and what Human Rights Watch calls Libyan society's "deep seated racism".

In each of the last 12 months dark skinned Libyans have been tortured, beaten, robbed and murdered.

About half of the 8,500 suspects still held in militia prisons are black Libyans or from countries such as Mali and Chad.

The UN Human Rights commissioner Navi Pillay says they are subject to torture, extrajudicial executions and the rape of both men and women.

The fighting in Bani Walid will go on, civilians will be murdered, and the rule of law will not exist.

The knock on effects of the intervention will continue to be felt in Chad and Mali.

Some of last year's media darlings – the "freedom fighters" are this year's oppressors. But, the world turns aside.

That was last year's war, this year we have Syria where different sections of the media have again taken different sides in the debate about what should be done.

Intervention might help the Syrians, it might make things worse, but whoever is engaged in looking at the options, should look at Libya, see a vision of the potential future, and do all they can to avoid a similar outcome.